Zelenskyy approves delegation for Istanbul talks: Who represents Ukraine

According to Zelenskyy’s decree, Ukraine will be represented at the negotiations by:

• Rustem Umerov – Minister of Defense of Ukraine, head of the delegation;

• Serhii Kyslytsia – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleksandr Poklad – Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleh Luhovskyi – First Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleksii Shevchenko – Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Vadym Skibitskyi – Deputy Chief of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Yevhen Shynkariov – Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleksandr Diakov – Deputy Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleksii Malovatskyi – Head of the Department of International and Operational Law of the Central Legal Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleksandr Sherikhov – Senior Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Heorhii Kuzmychov – Protocol Officer of the Office for Support of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, member of the delegation;

• Oleksandr Bevz – Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, member of the delegation.

To authorize the head of the delegation to:

• make changes to the composition of the Ukrainian delegation, subject to agreement with the President of Ukraine;

• involve, in accordance with established procedures and with the consent of their leaders, employees of state bodies, enterprises, institutions, organizations, as well as scientific advisors and experts to support the work of the Ukrainian delegation.

Zelenskyy previously stated that the composition of the Russian delegation sent by Putin to Istanbul shows that Moscow was not taking the negotiations seriously. This is because the delegation did not include those high-ranking officials of the aggressor country who actually make decisions.

Negotiations in Istanbul

Today, Zelenskyy arrived in Turkiye for a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin. Last weekend, the Russian President ignored Ukraine’s and the EU’s demand for an immediate ceasefire. Instead, he proposed resuming negotiations based on the terms of 2022.

These negotiations were scheduled to take place today in Istanbul, Turkiye.

Zelenskyy expressed his willingness to meet with Putin in person. However, Putin ignored this idea. Moreover, Russia kept the composition of its delegation for the Istanbul negotiations secret for a long time.

Later, it became known that instead of himself, Putin sent a low-level delegation led by his aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to the negotiations.

For more details about the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, see the RBC-Ukraine report.